Assets for financial mathematics
Steve G. Stevanovich, AB’85, MBA’90, founder and CEO of asset-manage-ment
firm Epsilon Investment Management, gave $7 million toward the University’s
new Center for Financial Mathematics, which bears his name. Founded in August
2006 as a spin-off of the master’s program in financial mathematics, the
Stevanovich Center is the only research center in the nation devoted to the discipline.
Part of Stevanovich’s gift will go toward renovating the Mathematics/Statistics
Building at 5727 S. University Avenue, the center’s home.

Law School wins suit
Six years after he was accused of murdering his mother and spent 17 months
in Cook County Jail, Hyde Parker Corethian Bell received a $1 million
settlement from the city after DNA evidence exonerated him. Craig Futterman,
associate clinical professor in the Law School’s Mandel Legal Aid
Clinic; Randolph Stone, clinical professor in the Law School and a former
Mandel Clinic director; Hyde Park civil-rights attorney Tom Peters; and
more than 20 Law School students worked on Bell’s suit. In 2000
Bell was interrogated for 50 hours by Chicago police, then confessed
to the crime on videotape. Two years later the Mandel Clinic obtained
a court order to test DNA found at the scene. The results matched the
DNA of serial rapist DeShawn Boyd, who received a life sentence in 2004.

Jump-start for media literacy
The University’s Center for Urban School Improvement received a $1.6
million grant from the MacArthur Foundation to fund after-school programs
on media literacy. With money from the grant, students at Woodlawn High
School and at the North Kenwood/Oakland campus of the U of C Charter School
will learn to produce video documentaries, podcasts, and music videos.

Campus buses frustrate students
Shoreland and Broadview residents expressed disappointment with the campus
bus system at an October town-hall meeting with Housing and Facilities
Services. This year the University substituted less costly Chicago Transit
Authority buses for some daily bus routes, maintaining separate late-night
routes. Students complained to Director of Campus Transportation and
Parking Brian Shaw about overcrowding, missed buses, inadequate shelter,
confusing stops, bad customer service, and inconvenient schedules. In
response, Transit Operations Administrator Debbie Garfi promised to open
a voice-mail line to report bus issues.

Doctor’s lifework recognized
Marshall Lindheimer, professor emeritus in medicine and obstetrics & gynecology,
received the 2006 Lifetime of Advocacy Award from the Preeclampsia Foundation,
recognizing his contributions to the study and prevention of high blood
pressure during pregnancy. Lindheimer is a consultant to the World Health
Organization’s Global Program to Conquer Preeclampsia and a founder
of the International Society for the Study of Hypertension in Pregnancy.
The author of more than 350 articles, he has written or edited seven books.

Banking on youthCrain’s Chicago Business chose Jennifer Tescher, MPP’96,
David Hoffman, JD’95, Tiffany Leadbetter, MBA’05, Kevin O’Connor,
MBA’86, and GSB professor Austan Goolsbee as five of its 40 rising
business leaders under 40. Director of the Center for Financial Services
Innovation, Tescher suggests ways for banks to reach out to “under
banked” immigrants and minorities. Hoffman fights corruption as
City Hall’s Inspector General. An assistant vice president for
Global Hyatt Corporation, Leadbetter scouts out new locations for the
chain. O’Connor brokers deals with Chinese companies for Caterpillar
Construction. Besides teaching at the GSB, Goolsbee writes columns for
the New York Times and Slate and appears on NPR and
PBS.

$20 million for cancer research
The Virginia & D. K. Ludwig Fund gave $20 million to each of six leading
cancer-research institutions, including Chicago. At the University the
gift will support metastasis research at the Ludwig Center, directed by
Ralph Weichselbaum and Geoffrey Greene, to be housed in the Knapp Center
for Biomedical Discovery when it opens in early 2008. Researchers in molecular
biology, cell biology, genetics, bioinformatics, chemistry, imaging, and
medicine will study why cancer cells tend to metastasize and how treatments
can inhibit the process.

New developer, same plan
After Kenard Developers copresident Hal Lichterman died, the company, which
bought the Shoreland from the University in 2004 for $6 million, resold
it to R. D. Horner & Associates for $10 million in October. Horner & Associates
was one of the property’s initial bidders and plans to carry out
Kenard’s plans to convert the dorm into condominiums. After the
University’s lease expires in 2009, Horner & Associates will
take over, constructing 260 condos, a six-floor parking garage, a hair
salon, and a restaurant in the original ballroom.

Art appreciation
Marilynn Alsdorf, president of hardware company Alsdorf International,
received the Joseph R. Shapiro (X’34) Award, presented by the Smart
Museum every two years to an art collector distinguished by vision and
expertise. Alsdorf and her husband began collecting in the ‘50s.
Their first purchase was a portrait by Amedeo Modigliani. Her collection
includes works by 20th-century masters; Indian, Himalayan, and Southeast
Asian sculpture; and ancient Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and Islamic art.